August is Women’s Month, and while there are many ways to mark it, we’d like to recommend one of the more enjoyable options: Round up the women in your life and get out of town!
Mothers, sisters, daughters, old school friends, the group chat that has been threatening a reunion since 2023… Whoever your people are, a girls’ getaway is easier to pull off than it sounds, especially if someone else handles the details. That’s where we come in.
If you have been comparing Knysna holiday packages and are wondering where to start, here is our recipe. Five ingredients for one very good girls’ weekend.
1. The Sleeping Arrangements
Every good slumber party needs a headquarters, and this one matters more when you are travelling as a group. The Turbine Hotel & Spa is on Thesen Island, a small marina island in the middle of the Knysna lagoon, which means canal views, quiet lanes and the town’s restaurants and waterfront are all within an easy walk. (Ideal if you want to enjoy a few cocktails out.)
Inside the hotel, every room is individually themed with its own artwork and colour scheme, so there is a small, satisfying moment on arrival when everyone unpacks in their own unique room. Luxury Rooms add a separate lounge area for late-night debriefs, and two of them come with private balconies over the canal.
2. The Spa Afternoon
This is the non-negotiable ingredient. Block out an afternoon, put your phones somewhere else and hand yourselves over to the Turbine Spa. August is late winter, which means skin that has spent three months next to fireplaces and in front of heaters, but fear not: our spa’s Kalahari range is built for exactly that. The Phyto Body Buff for a gentle all-over polish, the Hand Mask for hands that have carried the household through winter, and Phyto Salve for anywhere feeling the season.
Our spa has both single and double treatment rooms, so you can book side-by-side massages and compare notes afterwards.
Click here for our full spa menu.
3. The Long Table: Dinner Between the Turbines
Every girls’ trip requires at least one meal where you dress up to the nines for a night out with your ladies.
Have your girls’ night at the Island Café, where tables are nestled between the original machinery of Knysna’s old power station. (This building generated Knysna’s electricity from 1939 until 2001.) Today the restored turbines watch over dinner instead.
Our menu is a blend of fresh seasonal produce, coastal seafood, and Karoo-inspired flavours, brought together with global influences like Middle Eastern spice, Asian-style dressings, and classic French technique, offering something for every palate, from light garden salads to indulgent slow-cooked and grilled dishes.
Order generously, stay long, and move to the Gastro Pub as the night wears on.
4. The Lazy Morning: Schedule Nothing, Regret Nothing
Resist the urge to plan every hour. One morning of your getaway should have no agenda at all: A deep bath in your room (every room has both a bath and a shower, and winter is bath season), breakfast ordered via room service, coffee on your balcony and a second coffee on the Pool Deck.
Soak up the sights, sounds and relaxed energy of Thesen Island’s canals.
5. A Nature Outing
Every good getaway needs one nature outing that gets everyone out in the fresh air. Luckily, those visiting Knysna are spoiled for choice.
Based at The Turbine Hotel, you might like to walk along the lagoon edge and around Thesen Islands’ quiet lanes – flat and traffic-free, straight from the hotel door.
Or, perhaps a day trip? Drive 30 to 40 minutes to the Diepwalle Forestry Station, where three marked circular trails of 7, 8 and 9km wind beneath ancient yellowwood trees. Pack layers, expect some mud in late winter, and know that a SANParks conservation fee applies at the gate.
If the weather is sunny, which it usually is on the Garden Route, we highly recommend walking across the road to the The Water Club and hiring a kayak to explore the canals with.
August Insider’s Tip
Looking for a winning Knysna package?
Grab your favourite person and split the bill on winter. Two nights, a massage each, dinner sorted. The Cabin Fever Escape at R7,300 (that’s R3,650 each) runs until the end of August 2026.
(Enquire via the details at the bottom of this post.)
Book Your Trip
August brings winter rates, quiet trails and a very good reason to celebrate the women around you, and with the Cabin Fever Escape bookable till the end of September, this is one of the easiest Knysna holiday packages to turn into an actual plan rather than a group-chat idea.
Compare our Knysna holiday packages online or contact our reservations team at book@turbinehotel.co.za, and we will keep the balcony room ready for whoever books first.
Alternatively, you can make use of our seamless online booking platform and secure your own dates here.
